Graphics and Briefs from GENIVI Allilance

The GENIVI Alliance, an open community of automakers and suppliers driving the adoption of open source software for the connected car, completed a successful technical summit in Bangalore, India drawing over 180 participants from automakers including Toyota, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, GM as well as numerous automotive software suppliers. The event was sponsored by Hyundai Motor Group and HARMAN.

A major highlight of the Summit was hands-on training provided by BMW experts on open source software called RAMSES. RAMSES provides a framework for defining, storing and distributing graphics on any number of displays within a vehicle, resulting in a more unified user experience.

During the two-day program, GENIVI technical leaders and member representatives presented solutions to challenges automakers face in providing more flexible ways of delivering a more unified in-vehicle experience that combines information from safety, infotainment and connected smart device domains.

“Historically, drivers had to view separate displays in the vehicle, based on whether the information was safety critical like driver assistance or it was navigation or entertainment related,” said Steve Crumb, GENIVI Executive Director. “Automakers want to provide drivers with a single user experience and seek efficient methods for exchanging information between software domains like safety, infotainment and smart devices.”

The GENIVI graphics sharing project has categorized multiple methods for producing this single user-experience, has produced technical briefs for two such methods and is producing a more comprehensive white paper for release later this year to inform the industry of the various solutions available in each category.

Participants in the Summit also enjoyed sessions on the use of virtualization solutions, used extensively in data center servers, in an automotive context. Part of providing a more unified user experience is the seamless interaction between safety, infotainment and smart device operating environments, which often employ different operating systems like Linux, Android and real-time operating systems. Hypervisor solution providers presented techniques and solutions for producing the more seamless interaction between the various operating environments. Event presentations are posted to the GENIVI wiki at https://at.projects.genivi.org/wiki/x/xImxAQ.

As a result of the successful summit, momentum continues on the GENIVI domain interaction work with an eye toward the annual GENIVI Showcase and Networking Reception at the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas in January 2019. GENIVI expects that hands-on demonstrations of RAMSES and other domain interaction deliverables will be available during the popular showcase on the evening of January 8, 2019 at the Bellagio Ballroom. During the last CES Showcase, showcase demonstrators enjoyed over 1,050 visitors to the event.The GENIVI Alliance is a non-profit alliance focused on delivering open source, in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) and connected vehicle software. The alliance provides its members with a global development community of more than 140 companies, joining automotive software stakeholders with world-class developers in a collaborative environment, resulting in free, open source automotive middleware. GENIVI is headquartered in San Ramon, Calif.